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Mayaro Beach

Posted on:Thu, 01/06/2011 - 01:13By:admin

Mayaro Beach still remains one of my favourite spots in Trinidad and Tobago. Looking along the shorelines in any direction, you will see miles of sea meeting sand. Whether you are there for high tide or low tide, Mayaro never disappoints in giving you the most picturesque memory to cherish.

The Landscape

Almost uninhabited and non-commercialised, it's just the way it was years ago and I do hope it remains this way. There is no fancy Richards Bake and Shark, no public washrooms and no public car park. You are backed by bush, tall elegant swinging palm trees, drift wood, sea shells and random items that the sea washes ashore. This is how a Caribbean island beach is supposed to be.

In the Night

In the night, it is probably one of the most peaceful and beautiful places I have seen in Trinidad. The serene sky blessed with millions of stars...and I do mean millions. There is no light pollution hence making all the millions of stars really stand out. Not to mention the constant salty sea breeze caressing your body as you look up. If you are lucky you might step over a crab...and if you are luckier you can catch it and curry it. In the horizon, you will observe numerous oil platforms just posted there peacefully. Sitting on the beach star gazing at night is always something that I love to do. That will never change.

The Memories

This is the ultimate zone. The picture above captures almost everything I wanted to capture about how I would like to remember Mayaro. There is the fisherman's boat just parked in the sand. The palm trees swinging around. The sun blasting away in all its glory and the continuous charade of waves that keep coming in. I can look at this picture for hours and reminisce on all the times I have been to Mayaro. Most of them are always spur of the moment drives. Sometimes, early in the morning, there are locals "pulling seine". The most marvellous thing happens here. Together with the locals that are actually doing the "pulling", there are volunteers and visitors to the beach who just help for the fun of it. And if you ever had the chance to do this yourself, you will know "pulling seine" is no easy task. Their catch usually consist of many varieties of fishes, sharks, jelly fish and random thrash.

The sun rises in the East and I'm definitely not a morning person but I would still make every effort to catch this glimpse of heaven on earth at 6am. Sunrise at Mayaro is as spectacular as one can imagine it would be. The sun slowly raises far in the horizon with this reddish hue with streams of light exploding in an outward direction. If you ever wanted your best photograph, this is the time and place to do it.

The Local Neighbourhood

And that's another thing about Mayaro. There are numerous rum shops and bars along the way. The owners are actually quite heart warming (well most of them).

One place in particular is very popular and goes by the name of The Ranch. It's a bar with both air-conditioned seating areas and an outdoor area. The last time I went, they were playing a Rockers CD. For those of you who do not know what I mean by Rockers, it is music like Madoo, General Echoo and Joe Grine.

What struck me the most about this bar is the graffiti chimney on the inside. It's a floor to ceiling chimney with graffiti written by random customers like myself. I asked the bar tender how do customers reach all the way to the top to sign their stuff and she said they climb! This reminded me of a coffee shop in Amsterdam where all the customers would sign on their home currency. The entire inside walls of the coffee shop was plastered with currencies from all over the world. See picture below.

The food is also amazing and I highly recommend you visit this place if you ever head to Mayaro. Another bar I would recommend is Rum Jungle in Rio Claro. If you are lucky you may meet the owner who is a very down to earth individual. I have had the pleasure of meeting him myself. These are people who you can have a random discussion with and learn about the simples lives that they live.

The Sound

This is something you may never experience or understand unless you have been to Mayaro yourself. My best description of it, is just an awe-inspiring musical rendition that calms and soothes your soul. The sound of the constant waves chimes while rolling and crashing along the brown sand together with the mysterious howling of the wind. Call me crazy, but if I had a audio tape of this I would play this on repeat.

The Smell

Coupled with everything above, Mayaro has this salty "Mayaro smell". As long as you are not standing next to a dead fish, take a breath and you will sniff a salty sea breeze. This is non-polluted air coming in from far into the sea. The freshest air you will smell in Trinidad.

As one of the sons of Mayaro, this picture brings back great childhood memories. My father owned a shop which was directly on the beach in Radix at the end of Cham Road. All Shop Owners during that time, owing a Fishing Boat and seine was also part of the business. I remember hearing the Boat Captain, blowing a Conch Shell which was the call to the other boatmen to come to the beach to go out and cast the seine, because there was a sign of fish in the area.. As a boy, I remember helping to "pull seine" to the sound of the men signing "Johnny Cotto was a Fisherman's Son, yeah, yeah my Boy, he stayed way from school but he come out a fool, a long time ago".. Everybody pitched in to pull in the net, rewarded once the catch was in with Free Fish. Nothing better than having a live fish and cooking it coming straight from the seine. My interest was in collecting all the different looking fish and crabs brought in. As an adult, I had the opportunity to buy The Ranch but didn't..always do drop in for a beer when ever I am in Trinidad. Forty years later and it remains a very unique and interesting village and as a matter of fact, I still refer it as "Home"..